Red Twilight
by Bandit-sama
Summary: Jak finds an old friend of his that sends the world into utter chaos once more. Jak must fight against his friend, and save the world but how can Jak fight against a friend he thought he had made up?
1. Till the Morning Light

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters. I only own Zender.

Yay another Jak fic. I'll be posting this here, and over on Jakfics sooner or later. Anyways, **00000**-shows a flashback and until you see it again, the flashback it not over. This story will get dark, after all, this OC is going to be a villain. Don't worry if this confuses you, everything will be explained.

Enjoy!

* * *

_Who would ever want to become such a horrible, disgusting man?_

**000000000000000000000**

Sandover Island's weather was, on a normal day, a mixture of heat and a cooling wind but today the weather was slightly off. The sun above the island was pounding its rays down onto the small island and heat waves rose up to prove it to anyone looking out of their window. The cooling breeze seemed to have died off in the heat as well, leaving the island in a heat wave that made its residents head down to the beach to cool off.

"Daddy!" Keira called out. "Daddy come in the water with me! Please?"

Samos was sitting on the sand, taking an unusual break from studying Green Eco to watch his adopted daughter play in the water. It was too hot to be in his hut today, and he had been promising to take Keira down to the beach so she could show off her new bathing suit to Jak. Her bathing suit was a cute blue color, a much improved color over her old dark brown one her father had bought her for her seventh birthday.

Most of the other villagers had joined Samos and Keira on the beach, save for the muse and the sculptor who was still working in his hut. The sculptor thought that the muse looked especially cute when it panted, and he wanted to capture the look in a large gray stone he had chipped out of the hill near the waterfall.

"I will soon Keira," Samos said with a nod. "Why don't you go and look for Jak? I haven't seen him today."

Keira blinked. "Okay Daddy."

She stepped out of the water and ran up the beach, gathering sand on the bottom of her feet as she did so. When the sand changed to dirt, Keira paused for a moment and began to wipe the sand off of her feet.

"I wonder where Jak is?" she asked herself. "I should have grabbed my shoes."

As Keira cleaned off her feet so it would be easier to run, the sound of laughter filled the air. Keira stopped cleaning her feet and looked around to see if she could find where the voice was coming from but there was no one in sight.

"Jak?" Keira asked out loud. "Is that you Jak?"

The laughter sounded like a child's laughter but then it was overridden by a deeper, stranger laugh that sent shivers down Keira's spine. The laughter echoed through the empty village but Keira was able to pinpoint where the laughter was coming from. It was coming from the boat launch near her father's hut.

"Jak!" Keira said as she walked over to her father's hut. "Jak!!"

Keira began to cross the wooden bridge when she saw Jak on the beach below. Her heart began to slam away in her chest when she saw the young boy she had developed a crush on but it faded when the deep laugh began echoing through the village once more.

"Jak?" Keira tried to yell his name out but the overbearing laugh turned it into a shy whisper. "Jak?" she tired again but the result was the same.

The laughing suddenly became louder and then died down to a simple child's laugh. Keira back away from the rope that held the wooden bridge she was on, and ran down the way she had come. She wanted to go see Jak, and she wanted to see him_ now_. She knew that he was the only one who would be able to protect her from the laughing that only she seemed to hear.

"Jak!" Keira screamed as she ran. "JAK!"

She ran down through the village and down the wooden boat launch as fast as her bare feet could carry her. Her feet hit the sand once more and her running became hard as the sand sunk in underneath her. After fighting with the sand, Keira came to the spot where she had been watching Jak but instead of seeing Jak alone, his back was turned to her and he was facing what looked like black mist.

Keira froze with fear. "Jak?" she managed to whisper.

Jak turned around towards Keira with his normal, happy smile on his face. The smile gave Keira more confidence that everything was okay so she began walking towards Jak once more.

"I've been looking for you Jak!" Keira said as a smile crossed her face as well. "I wanted to know if—"

Her words seemed to stop themselves while fear ran through her entire body, a fear that she had never experienced before. Her small legs wanted to run as fast as she could to get away and her hands wanted to cling to her father for protection. Tears began to fall from her eyes as her legs became weak and she fell onto her knees.

The black mist that Jak had been facing was now moving over Jak, starting at his shoulders and working its way down until he was completely masked within it. Waves moved skyward from Jak's body while Keira began to shiver in fear from something she didn't understand. Jak gave her a confused look and then began to move towards her with his right hand out to her.

"J-Jak," she whispered.

Keira looked towards Jak's hand and began to take it. Just as her hand started to touch Jak's, the black mist moved swiftly down from Jak's shoulders and wrapped itself around his fingers. The mist jumped out towards Keira's arm and began to engulf her arm as well.

"JAK!" she screamed. "Jak stop it! What are you doing Jak? STOP!"

She looked on in fear as the mist moved towards her shoulder and began to swallow the rest of her body. Keira tried pulling away as hard as she could but the mist seemed to be pulling her in towards Jak with incredible strength. She began screaming out at the top of her lungs but no one was coming. The darkness that surrounded Jak was starting to take in Keira's head and silenced her screams.

"Pleas—"

The mist cut off the young girl from finishing her sentence off as it engulfed her entirely. The bright blue sea Keira was the last thing Keira could see before the darkness covered her eyes, and before she fell into unconsciousness.

**000000000000000000000**

"Hey buddy! BUDDDDYY!"

Jak opened his eyes to see Daxter hanging above him with a glare in his eyes. Jak blinked and yawned.

"About time!" Daxter complained. "Come on, you know we gotta get up to the Precursor Monk Temple!"

"For what?" Jak asked with another long yawn.

"A check up remember? One of Monk boy's disciples told us to check it out today," Daxter said as he rolled his eyes. "It's some kind of Precursor holiday or something." Daxter moved his hand carelessly as he spoke.

Jak thought about it for a moment, and then remembered. It was a day the Precursors had set apart to pay tribute to everyone who had died for them or who had died believing in them. The only person Jak had to morn for was his father, Damas and that was a mourning he went through everyday. The people of Spargus were going to hold a tribute in their King's honor and Jak was to be the main speaker, a task he had signed up to do.

"That's right," Jak said with a sigh. "Come on, we gotta go to Keira's place before we head up there."

Daxter hopped off of Jak's chest. "Right away! Lemme check out with Tess before we head out!"

"Meet me by the front door alright?" Jak called out to the small Ottsel.

Daxter left the room and Jak stood as he stretched his arms over his head. He heard a few cracks, telling him that he had done his job and dropped his arms back down to his side. He walked over to the sink in his bedroom and looked into the mirror there.

It had been six months since the race in Kras City, but he could still feel the after effects of the poison he had been given in that race. Even though he and his crew had been given the antidote there were still heavy after effects. Jak's effect had been that his stomach could no longer tolerate any kind of spices, much to his dislike, and his vision wasn't as good as it used to be in the dark. Once in awhile his reflexes would slow for a few days, but then return as if nothing were wrong.

Daxter didn't seem to suffer any after effects from the poisoning at all. Jak figured that it was because he was in the image of a Holy being and that somehow protected him. Whatever it was, Jak considered Daxter lucky.

There hadn't been a word from Rayn but Torn and Ashelin had sent out a warrant in case she decided to come out of hiding.

"Pain in the ass," Jak whispered to himself.

He took a long look at himself in the mirror. His hair had grown back since the Kras City races to the same length it had been when he first became a Wastelander. He liked his hair this way; it wasn't too long or too short. There was now a small scar underneath his right eye from a knife encounter he had gotten into with Razer one night at a bar but Jak considered it a trophy more then a disfigurement.

"Stupid." He shook his head.

After washing and cleaning himself up, Jak walked over to his pile of clothes and began to dress himself in his Wastelander outfit. As he strapped his boots on, Torn came walking into the small room.

"I've been lookin' for you," Torn said with a smile. "I had no idea that you were still livin' in a place like this."

Jak laughed. "I don't have any place else to go."

The room Torn was talking about was the storage room behind the Naughty Ottsel. It was a small room with a bathroom in the corner and a bunk bed Jak used like it was his own night after night. It was simple and Jak couldn't ask for anymore then that.

"You headin' up to the Temple?" Torn asked, still looking around the room as he counted the cracks in the wall.

"Yeah," Jak answered.

Torn coughed. "Could you take something up there for me?"

Jak looked up towards Torn with a cocked eyebrow. "What?"

"I've got a package I want you to drop off in front of the Temple…for someone I lost a while back ago."

"Oh." Jak lowered his head a bit. "I'll make sure to drop it off."

"Thanks."

Jak brought his head back up to watch Torn walk out of the room. The poison had weakened Torn's body and made it hard for Torn to do some of the things he used to do on his own. Torn found that he ran out of breath quicker then he used to, and he often limped with his right leg because of the muscle had been weakened by the poison. It was hard for Jak to watch a man who was used to doing everything for himself have to ask for help sometimes, and it was even harder on Torn.

"Come on Jak!" Daxter yelled from the other room. "Let's get movin'!"

"Coming!" Jak yelled back.

* * *

The Wasteland. Jak and Daxter arrived in the sand barren land with a small box with them from Torn. They walked into Spargus' parking lot and saw Keira wheeled underneath the engine of one of the large vehicles. Jak walked over to her, bent down, and pulled her out from underneath the car entirely. She looked back up at him through a pair of green goggles. Her face was covered with grease, oil, and small particles of sand from the engine.

"Jak," she said as she blinked. "I wasn't expecting you so soon."

"Are we too soon?" Jak cocked an eyebrow.

Keira stood. "I've got your vehicle up and ready to go." She pointed to the Dune Hopper that Jak had crashed a few weeks ago. "I've fixed everything so don't worry about anything alright?"

Jak smiled. "You are a genius."

Keira blushed. "Thanks Jak."

"Hey!" Daxter popped up. "What about me!"

"What about you?" Keira asked as she tilted her head. "Take care of Jak for me okay Dax?"

Daxter grinned. "You can count on me sista!"

All three of them began to laugh at the crack Daxter had made while they walked over to the Dune Hopper. Jak hopped into the front seat and began strapping himself in while Keira explained the changes she had made.

While she talked, Jak let his mind wander a bit. He remembered how he had Keira had kissed at the end of the racing in Kras City, but since then they had broken up. The poison that had taken something from everyone had taken something from Keira that she could never get back. Her body was now incapable of conceiving children, no matter how much Green Eco Samos applied to her. Keira had broken up with Jak because of all of the stress and had only recently begun to be herself again.

The more Jak thought about Keira, the more he looked off into the distances and passed the open parking lot gates. There he spotted a dark figure clouded by the rising sand. The image was blurred but it looked like someone just standing out in the middle of the desert with a large cloak over them to protect against the sand. Jak narrowed his eyes but his vision blurred for a moment.

"Jak?" Keira asked. "Jak, are you listening to me?"

He snapped back into reality. "Yeah I am. Sorry, I spaced out for a minute. I think we can handle everything Keira, don't worry."

"Yeah I'm with him!" Daxter exclaimed.

Keira giggled. "Be careful you two. Jak, remember you have to be back by nightfall to give your speech."

Jak sighed. "How could I forget?"

Keira stepped away from the vehicle as Jak turned on the engine. Jak moved his goggles over his eyes and his bandana over his mouth. He pressed down on the gas and sped out of the parking lot while Keira waved. Jak looked out towards the desert as he drove out of Spargus and looked for the figure he had seen before but it was gone.

* * *

The Precursor Temple was surprisingly empty. Jak had expected it to be crowed with people who had traveled to pay their respects but it was the exact opposite. He parked the Dune Hopper, grabbed Torn's package, and walked in.

"This place still gives me the creeps!" Daxter said as a shiver ran down his spine.

"I don't blame you." Jak looked around. "Come on, we've got to get to the Oracle."

The two walked through the Temple they had been to thousands of times before only this time there weren't any Metal Heads or Dark Markers to deal with. The place was quiet and boring with nothing to shoot or kill. There weren't any tasks to finish, or missions to complete; this was just a simple field trip.

The hallway that led to the Oracle's room was crowed with letters and flowers left by the people who were mourning. Jak was careful not to step on any of them as he walked down the hallway.

"I didn't think there would be _this_ much here," Jak said as he looked at the flowers.

"Damn." Daxter jumped down onto the floor. "Neither did I." He looked around and spotted a small empty spot at the end of the hallway. "Hey look! A place for Tattoo Wonder's box! Let's put it down and get outta here."

"Right."

Jak walked over to the spot Daxter had picked out and set the box down with care. Daxter walked behind his best friend and began to walk over towards the door where the Oracle stood when he noticed a black mist covering the floor.

"What the?" Daxter walked forward and into the room.

The black mist on the floor swirled and collected around Daxter's paws. A chill came up from the mist that made all of the hairs on Daxter stand up. His tail rose from the cold floor and when he turned around to call Jak into the room, he saw that the black mist was rising behind him.

"Jak!!" Daxter yelled.

Jak snapped his head in Daxter's direction. He began to run towards the door but just as he arrived in front of the door the door slammed shut, leaving Jak on the other side. He slammed his fists against the door.

"Dammit! Dax! Dax! Can you hear me?"

The cold chill Daxter had felt was now seeping underneath the door along with strands of the black mist. Jak backed away from the door and watched the mist rise upwards.

"What…is this?" he asked.

He bent down and allowed his fingers to become wrapped up in the black mist. The mist stung his fingers at first because of the chilliness but he grew used to it. The mist moved up his hand to his shoulder where it stopped.

For some reason Jak wasn't afraid if what was happening. His mind was still on Daxter and making sure that he was alright but the touch of the mist sent an overwhelming feeling of being content and then warmth. It was…amazing.

"_Jak."_

"Jak!" Daxter yelled from behind the door. "Jak hurry up!!"

Jak shook his head. "I'll be there in a minute Dax! Just hold on!"

The feeling of warmth the mist gave off disappeared and was replaced by a deep chilling feeling once more. Jak ripped his hand away and began running up the hallway towards another entrance he knew of.

* * *

After jumping, running, and dodging traps that had reset themselves, Jak had finally made it into the Oracle's room. He skidded to a stop once he entered the room and looked around for the Oracle Daxter was in front of.

"Come on, come on," Jak said. "Dax!! Where are you?"

"Jak," Daxter said loud enough to pick up on Jak's ears. "Hurry…up."

Jak turned his head to the right and spotted Daxter lying down on the floor with a small pool of blood underneath him. Jak's heart dropped into his stomach at the sight and in that one moment, Jak felt all of his courage leave him. Everything seemed to be gone, and for once, Jak had no idea what to do.

"_Jak."_

"Daxter!" Jak yelled.

Without another second passing Jak summoned his Light powers and formed his wings. He jumped off of the platform and flew over to the one with Daxter. He landed, reverted back to his normal form, and ran over towards Daxter.

"Dax," Jak whispered as he fell to his side. "Dax, can you hear me?"

Daxter's eyes fluttered open. "Jak?" he asked. "'bout time you showed up. I can't fight…without ya you know?"

"Don't worry," Jak said with a small, nervous laugh. "What did this to you?"

"This guy," Daxter strained to say. "Tall…guy…I ain't never seen him before."

"Did he look like a Dark Marker?"

Daxter shook his head. "Jak…you gotta watch out for him. I didn't even…"

Before Daxter could finish his sentence, his head moved backwards and his eyes closed. Jak shook the small animal, trying to get a response out of him but Daxter wasn't giving anything back.

_He's losing too much blood._ Jak thought as he looked towards a wound on Daxter's side. _I gotta get him back to Spargus…it's closer._

Jak moved his right hand away from Daxter's body and tore his bandana off of his neck and wrapped it around Daxter's body. More then ever Jak wished that his Light powers could heal others. He was careful not to tie it too tightly but tight enough to stop the bleeding for a while. Once he was finished, Jak began to get up when the mist started to gather at the bottom of his feet once more.

"You'll be fine Daxter," Jak whispered. "Just don't…"

He stopped. He couldn't get those words to pass through his lips even though his mind was thinking it. Daxter and die just didn't go into the same sentence. Jak shook his head. Talking wasn't something Jak was going to bother himself with at the moment, he had more important things to take care of. He would have to come back later to find the person who did this to Daxter.

Jak walked over to the side of the platform, ready to summon his Light powers once more when the chillness of the mist surrounding his feet caught his attention.

"Jak, are you just going to leave me?" a male voice asked.

That voice. Jak knew it well, in fact it triggered memories of his childhood but he couldn't place a face to it. He turned around to see where the voice had come from to see a man standing there with the black mist surrounding him.

The man was tall, just a few inches over Jak's height. His black hair fell beside his head in thin layers and his pale green eyes looked straight back at Jak. He was wearing a black covering over his mouth and bottom half of his face, and a black cloak that hid everything else about the strange man. On his feet with thick black boots Jak recognized as being Wastelander boots.

"Are you?" he asked. "You can't leave me here; I've been waiting for you here."

"Did you do this to Daxter!?" Jak hissed as he forced his darker half away for the time being.

The man leaned forward and brought his hands out from his cloak. He moved his gloved hands towards Jak and moved them up and down, almost in a playful fashion.

"Come on Jak! It's me! You can't leave me here!" the man pleaded. "We made a promise that night remember?"

Jak rolled his eyes. "Whether you are the guy who hurt Dax or not, I've got better things to worry about. I'll come back for you."

Jak's feet moved closer towards the end of the platform, still keeping his eyes on the strange man.

"Jak?" Daxter whispered weakly.

"Dax!" Jak looked down towards Daxter but saw that his eyes were still closed tightly. Was he conscious or unconscious?

"Why…why are you talkin' to…yourself?" Daxter finished.

"Myself?" Jak blinked.

"Jak," the man said once more.

There was nothing more to say. The moment Daxter's words came to Jak's mind Jak understood everything. He remembered who this man was that stood before him, and he knew why Daxter thought he was talking to himself. This man…was someone Jak knew. Someone Jak used to play with as a child.

"Zender," Jak whispered.

This man used to be his imagery friend.

* * *

R&R please! 


	2. Place of Lost Mishaps

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of its characters. I only own Zender and this little story here.

Thanks for the reviews **AJMS** and** The Daxinator**! I love to hear what people think about this story that has an OC villain. Anyways, this chapter may be a bit confusing but don't worry; things will be explained later. Just stayed tuned! BTW, everything that happened on Sandover that was never explained will be explained here so don't worry about Daxter and all of that stuff.

Enjoy!

* * *

_If a man cannot cry, then the man is not deserving of anger._

"Zender," Jak whispered.

The man relaxed and drew his hands back to his body. He stepped backwards in relief and then moved his right hand back out and shook his index finger at Jak.

"You had me worried there for a minute Jak!" Zender said with a small laugh. "I was afraid you wouldn't recognize me! After all, traveling back and forth though time can do that to you."

Jak shook his head. "Look Zender, I don't know what you're doing here but I've got to get Daxter to a hospital. I'm leaving."

Zender's gentle out look changed. "_What_? You _still_ want to take Daxter? Don't you want me to go with you?"

"No," Jak hissed. "I'm leaving; I don't care if you follow."

"_What_?" Zender's eyes widened. "Oh I get it." Zender moved both of his hands out, opened all of his fingers, and laughed. "You're goofing around just like you used to! You're not going to leave me here alone...right?"

"I said you could _follow_."

Zender paused for a few minutes and then shook his head. "But Jak—"

"I'm leaving. I'll figure this out later."

Jak summoned his Light powers once more and formed his wings. With a step off of the platform, Jak flapped his wings and flew over to the platform he had come in on. He withdrew his wings and took one last look back towards Zender who was standing there with a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Coming?" Jak yelled.

Zender lowered his head. Black mist rose up around him and engulfed his body. Jak looked back towards his old friend but turned away before Zender could do anything else.

"Jak," Zender whispered. "I have your voice; I will never leave you alone."

That sentence ran through Jak and traveled through the blood in his veins until it seemed that they became a part of his soul. He knew exactly what those words meant but somewhere in the vast area of his mind the words seemed to be spoken for the first time.

"Jak," Daxter whimpered.

Daxter's voice brought Jak back into reality. Jak shook his head and ran out of the Oracle room as fast as he could.

"Hold on Dax," Jak whispered. "You'll be fine in a few minutes."

* * *

All of Jak's attention was focused on Daxter as Jak drove through the sands. His mind wondered every few minutes, wondering why his imaginary friend from his childhood was now in Spargus. Every time Jak began to think about it, he remembered how badly he needed to focus on getting to Spargus, and the thought disappeared for his mind only to return moments later.

Was it the poison? Were the effects of the poison returning and forcing his mind to remember and see things he had forgotten about years ago? The poison _had_ to be acting up in his system; it didn't make sense any other way. His vision had to be going because of how long that dammed poison had been in his body, after all, Zender wasn't real. Jak had made Zender up a year before Daxter had come to Sandover Island because he wanted someone else to play with other then Keira. Zender _wasn't real_.

"_I have your voice."_

Jak shook his head. He couldn't get the sound of Zender's voice out of his head. Even though he hadn't heard his voice in years, Jak felt like he had heard it somewhere before but he couldn't think of _where_.

Could an imaginary friend have a voice? Jak remembered him having a voice because he remembered Zender spending hours telling him stories.

_Stories._ Jak thought._ What were they about? I don't….remember._

Images began to flash in front of Jak's eyes every time he blinked. Pictures of being on the beach at Sandover with Daxter and the image of a mouth moving with vertical scars running on the lips. Jak tired to keep his eyes open in order to keep driving but the images began to flash too quickly in front of his eyes. The faster the images moved the more light they created; they blinded Jak for a moment when he opened his eyes once more.

"Come on Jak," he told himself. "Don't do this."

Jak focused his vision out towards the sand rising in front of him. He pressed harder down on the gas pedal while he bit his bottom lip with his canines, focusing a bit of blood. His hands gripped the wheel until he could feel his hands begin to cramp because of the force. He just needed some kind of_ distraction_, just for a few minutes until he could push himself once more.

"_I have your voice."_

"Shut it," Jak hissed.

"_Jak."_

He shook his head. "I said shut up."

"_You can't leave me here; I've been waiting for you here."_

Another image flashed in front of his eyes, this one consisting of a bright white light. Jak opened his eyes but blinked once more because of the blinding white light that had plagued him before. Another image came to him, this one nothing but darkness.

"_I have your voice."_

"I know."

"_Jak."_

"What!" Jak yelled. "What the hell do you want!?"

Jak closed blinked but this time his eyes stayed closed. The image in front of his eyes was an image of only Zender's pale green eyes, looking back at him. Jak tired opening his eyes once more but they just wouldn't open up. He could feel that he was still steering the vehicle, but he couldn't get his eyes to open back up. All he could see were Zender's eyes staring back at him, cold and emotionless.

"_I never would have left you alone. Not in a darkness like this Jak. And I will never be without you…never."_

Darkness took over Jak's eyes. He couldn't feel anything anymore. Everything was gone, except his thoughts for Daxter's safety.

* * *

Water.

Jak felt his mouth fill with salt water. He panicked for a moment but then spit out the water and took a deep breath of air in. He began coughing from taking in the small bit of water that he did, and flung his arms and legs around to feel that he was in a body of water.

"Dax?" he called through a cough. "Dax where are you?"

When Jak's arm and legs managed to get his body up right, Jak looked around the area he was in. He was facing a plain, white wall that seemed to drift off into nowhere with the water stopping just about two miles out in front of Jak.

"Dax!" Jak yelled. "Where are you?"

His legs kicked underneath him to keep him afloat, a trick he had learned from his days back on the beach. He moved his head left and right but didn't see anything other then the white emptiness. It was silent. Jak could hear his pulse in his ears even though he was moving his arms and legs around in water, no noise came from it.

Staring out into nothing, Jak felt a strange feeling rise up from his stomach. He didn't know what the feeling was but as the feeling came, a small case of heartburn came up with it.

"DAX!" he yelled.

Jak turned around to see if there was anywhere to go but as he did, he saw a sight he hadn't seen in years. There in front of his eyes was his village. It was Sentinel Beach on Sandover Island.

"What the hell?" he whispered. "Where…"

He stopped himself before he asked such a stupid question. He knew _what_ and _where_ he was, this was Sandover Island but he didn't know _where_ in the universe or timeline he was.

Without losing another moment, Jak began to swim to shore. The water grew shallow as he reached the shore, and Jak walked onto the beach and began to look around with his mouth open.

Everything was the same. Every hut was built the way he remembered it, and even the waterfall was flowing. He ran over to the Green Eco vents to see that they were still pumping Green Eco out; just as they had been the day he and Daxter had left to find the rest of the Sages.

Jak shook his head. "How did I get here?"

Samos. Samos would know what was going on that was if he was here in this strange place. Jak sprinted over towards the cliff where he knew the bridge leading to Samos' hut would be but when he arrived he saw that there wasn't a wooden bridge, in fact there wasn't even a hut. The white color that seemed to go on forever was here too. There wasn't anything _but_ the white color.

"Shit." Jak dug his feet into the ground and stopped himself from going over the edge. He moved his arms forward, then backwards trying to balance himself and fell to the floor.

There was nothing there but the empty whiteness Jak had seen that ended the water. The strange feeling came back to Jak and this time his heart began to pound away in his chest as well. This wasn't his home; it was missing so many important things. But if this wasn't his home, where was he?

The sudden noise of a whistle caught his attention. His ears twitched as the whistling noise echoed through the quiet village. Jak shivered, it was just sounded so eerie.

"_Jak, go to the beach,"_ a voice ordered.

It was Zender's voice again.

"Why?" Jak yelled back. His yell echoed through the empty village.

It was then Jak put everything together. _Why_ Daxter had thought Jak was talking to himself, and why Zender's voice had sounded so familiar past the idea of talking to him when Jak was a child.

"_I have your voice."_

It was his voice. Zender's voice sounded exactly like Jak's voice because _it was_ Jak's voice. It was the voice that Jak had discovered during The Baron's Dark Eco treatments, the voice he was using now. But how? Jak didn't care at the moment, he just wanted to get back home and make sure Daxter was back to normal.

Jak ran down back towards the beach and stopped when his feet touched the waves that met up with the beach. He stepped into the water just a bit, only getting the tips of his feet wet.

The whistling returned but this time a long, vertical, steel pole appeared in the water in front of Jak. More and more steel poles began to appear and began to connect with one another with horizontal steel poles. Jak looked up to where the poles began and saw that the poles higher up were forming tracks.

"Tracks?" Jak asked, his voice echoing once more.

Then, the structure stopped. It was halfway done and only covered a quarter of the beach from where Samos' hut was supposed to be to the start of the beach. Jak began to walk into the water and over towards the strange structure when the whistling came once more.

"_Something you've always wanted,"_ Zender said.

A train appeared at the start of the tracks and began moving down the tracks. Jak backed away from the unfinished structure and shielded himself with his arms as the train came closer towards the end. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact but instead he heard nothing but another whistle.

"_I've given you a present. Enjoy,"_ Zender said.

Jak removed his arms from his face and opened his eyes. The train ran off of the unfinished tracks and off into the sky. Jak blinked, trying to see if what he was seeing was the truth.

"Present?" Jak repeated. "A train?"

Suddenly, an overwhelming feeling of nausea brought Jak down to his knees. He held his stomach and covered his mouth with his right hand but it was too late, Jak threw up through his fingers. He bent down as the pain in his stomach increased and began coughing up whatever was left in his stomach. He looked up towards the water and saw that his vision was blurring once more.

"Dammit," he cursed. "What the hell…is going on here?"

Jak blinked once, and then once more only this time his eyes stayed closed. He felt his body fall forward but he didn't hit the ground, his body kept falling forward.

Where was he?

* * *

"Jak! Hey Jak! Come around already!"

The sound of someone barking orders while he was asleep was starting to drive Jak up the wall. With that thought in mind, Jak opened his eyes to see Torn above him with a bandana holding his hair back.

"Torn?" Jak asked.

Torn stepped out of Jak's field of vision. "He's up Keira," he said.

Jak sat up and saw that he was in the Palace in Spargus, a place he had inherited when Damas passed away a little over a year and a half ago. It was a simple room, a large bed in the middle of the room, a window beside it with a large balcony overlooking the sands, and a bathroom in the far corner. Needless to say it was much better then the shack behind the Naughty Ottsel.

"Jak!" Keira ran across the room from the bathroom and over to Jak's side. "How are you feeling?"

Jak thought about it for a moment and discovered that he felt perfectly normal. He didn't feel sick anymore; in fact he felt a lot better then he had left that morning when Daxter had woken him up. Daxter.

"Where's Daxter?" Jak stood. "Where is he?"

Keira blinked and pointed to the end of the bed. There Daxter was, curled up in a small ball, sleeping the day away as usual. Jak walked over to Daxter and shook him a bit. Daxter smacked Jak away with his right hand but after a few more attempts, Daxter sat up.

"What _is it_?" Daxter hissed. "Oh Jak, I was worried about you."

"What about _you_," Jak said as he looked up and down Daxter's body. "Have you recovered?"

Daxter turned his head to the right, and then to the left. "Yeah Keira took care of my injures! Hell I don't even remember where my cut was."

"Do you remember what happened?"

Daxter looked up towards the ceiling. "Uh I remember settin' down Tattoo Wonder's box and then walkin' into that weird room and…"

"And?" Jak pushed.

"And some guy started talkin' to me," Daxter answered as his memory started to come back to him. "I remember because I thought it was you." He pointed to Jak. "Now that I really think about it, he sounded exactly like you."

Torn walked over to the bed and crossed his arms. "What does that mean?"

"Well Miss. Housewife," Daxter hissed, referring to the red bandana on Torn's forehead. "The guy sounded _exactly_ like Jak. His voice was the same and everything!"

"How could that be?" Keira crossed her arms. "Voices can sound the similar but _never_ the exact same. What do you think Jak?"

Jak stepped back and flopped back down into his bed. "I don't know Keira, I really don't know right now but I _will_ find out what the hell is going on around here."

"That's not the only thing that's going on around here," Torn said.

Torn walked over to the large window and leaned against it. He crossed his arms and looked out towards the desert.

"All radio transmission are down," Torn began, "something is wrong. Transmissions haven't been down this long since the Metal Heads attacked two years ago. I need you to come back to town with me and check out the Sewers."

"Sewers?" Daxter blinked. "What do the Sewers have to do with anything?"

Torn rolled his eyes. "You've been in Haven City how long and you still haven't figured everything out yet? Our radio transistors are down there and if something's wrong then the problem is obviously something in the Sewers."

"Well Jak and I can handle it, right Jak?" Daxter moved his head towards Jak only to see him shaking his head back and forth.

"Dax I want you to stay here," Jak said.

"WHAT!?" Daxter screamed.

Jak stood. "Until I figure out what's going on around here I want you to stay in Spargus with Keira and Kleiver, wherever he is."

Daxter stood as well and walked over to Jak. "You're leaving me here with Keira and Jelly Boy? Jak, how could you!?"

"Calm down," Jak said with a slight laugh. "Just stay here, I'll be back soon."

"You'd better!" Daxter flopped down onto the bed. "Hurry up and finish the mission and come back soon."

"Jak," Keira stepped forward, "you still have a speech to give."

Jak sighed. "I'll be back before then, don't worry about it."

"Come on Jak," Torn said as he pushed himself off of the window. "Let's get goin' before Ashelin gets on my ass about this."

Jak and Torn left Spargus and walked out of the vehicle yard. They neared the Transporter when Torn moved against Spargus' wall. Torn leaned against the wall at his shoulders and found it hard to catch his breath.

"You alright?" Jak asked.

"Fine," Torn said. "Go over to the Transporter and get it started for me."

Jak stepped away from Torn and began to walk towards the Transporter when the dark image Jak had seen before appeared in front of it. Jak narrowed his eyes when the dark figure began to move forward.

"Torn," Jak turned his head to Torn, "do you see what I see?"

"What?"

Jak pointed to the black figure. "That."

Torn squinted to where Jak was pointing but he couldn't see anything. He looked back towards Jak and smacked him playfully on the back.

Jak turned to Torn. "Can't you see it?" he asked.

"There's nothing there Jak."

"But—"

Jak returned his attention to the place where he had seen the figure but saw nothing now. The desert was just as empty as it always was. The sand where the figure had been suddenly died, and proved Torn's vision true.

"Come on Jak," Torn said as he pushed himself away from the wall. "We'd better start moving before the Marauders show up."

"R-Right." Jak shook his head.

* * *

After a long walk, Jak and Torn finally made it down to the Sewers; the very same Sewers were Jak had destroyed the Security Devices for Krew. Since Ashelin had come into power of Haven City underneath Jak, she had gotten the people of the city to clean up and repair certain areas. The Sewer had been repaired so hearing that something had been damaged in the Sewers drove Ashelin up the wall.

"So," Jak looked around the bright Sewer walls, "where are the radio transistors?"

"Further down," Torn said as he pointed down the long hallway. "They're up against a wall that has a white flag hanging off of it."

"Why a white flag?"

Torn closed his eyes as he walked. "Back when we were rebuilding this place used to flood. We put up a white flag so people would know how close they were to the electricity boxes were."

"Oh."

Torn changed the subject, and soon the two of them were talking about how Haven City had changed in the past three years. They cracked jokes about who had died, and about those who had lived until a cold wind blew by the both of them. The two fell silent.

Jak grabbed his Vulcan from his hip and aimed it down the hallway. Torn grabbed a small handgun off of his hips and pointed it in the same direction.

"It smells like it's coming from the outside," Torn said as he sniffed the air. "All of the other doors that lead down here have been welded shut; there's no entrance for the air to get in here."

"Then where the hell is it coming from?" Jak asked as his eyes shifted back and forth.

Just as Torn opened his mouth to give Jak a smartass answer, all of the lights in the Sewer hallway shut off with a loud _click_ noise. They began moving their guns around and pressed their backs together in order to prevent an accidental friendly fire.

"Great," Jak rolled his eyes while they dilated, "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"We'd better get outta here," Torn said. "Let's back up to the door and come back when the power comes back on."

"_Jak,_" it was Zender's voice.

"What?" Jak could feel Torn move his head. "What did you say Jak?"

Jak's finger touched his trigger. "I didn't say anything."

"But—"

"_The guy sounded exactly like Jak. His voice was the same and everything!"_

The lights turned back on, and there, standing in front of Torn and Jak, was Zender. Zender took a few steps over towards Jak and Torn but stopped suddenly.

"Hello Jak," Zender said with a cute tilt of his head.

* * *

R&R please! 


End file.
